February 12, 2012
Mr. Lincoln’s Air Force
James L. Green
Abstract:
At the outbreak of the Civil War newspapers accounts across the land literally pleaded with the government to employ the balloon as a weapon of war. Even before 1st Manassas aeronauts joined units or just came to Washington DC to volunteer for service. One such aeronaut, Thaddeus Lowe, distinguished himself on the National Mall, getting Lincoln’s attention long enough to prove his determination and eventually become chief aeronaut of the Balloon Department. Lincoln went out of his way to establish the Balloon Corp. Once operational, the Balloon Corp grew to seven government balloons, with Lowe spreading the balloons along the Maryland-DC border with Virginia providing observations of Confederate troop movements for the military leaders and the public alike. As a visible alarm system in the event of a Rebel invasion of Washington, Lincoln’s Air Force was one element of his strategy that calmed the public fears and created our nation’s 1st Air Force.
Short Speaker Bio:
The speaker received his undergraduate degree in astronomy, and his master's and doctoral degrees in physics, at the University of Iowa. He has pursued research in space physics and data systems development at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and then at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland from 1980 to 2005. In 2006 he moved to NASA Headquarters in Washington DC as the Director of the Planetary Science Division. Although his day job involves management of NASA's robotic missions of exploration to other planets of the solar system, he has long had a passionate personal interest in the history of the Civil War and ballooning in particular.
For over 30 years Jim has conducted research into Civil War balloons and has spoken at a number of events including, most recently, the 150th Anniversary of Lowe’s first tether balloon ascension on the Washington DC, National Mall on June 17, 2011. He has also been working with Civil War Trust identifying locations of the balloon stations during the Peninsula Campaign. An overview of this activity can be found at:
http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-ballooning/ballooning-during-the-seven.html
For more information on Jim please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Green
